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IBM product teams will make decisions on product release plans based on a number of inputs, including Requests For Enhancement raised through the IBM developerWorks RFE Community. We are keen to make those decisions on as much information as possible; to this end the most helpful RFEs are those which explain what a customer is trying to achieve, what difficulties they are facing as a result of product limitations, and what benefit IBM will get from doing the work involved. If you have particular product feature solutions in mind, you are welcome to submit those as suggestions for consideration, but having an understanding of the underlying goals will make us far more able to discuss a range of possible solutions for achieving those goals.

Submitted RFEs are reviewed by IBM product teams on a regular basis with a view to offering a response within 90 days of submission, but often more quickly than that. The reviewers will look to engage in a dialogue with customers raising RFEs to help ensure a satisfactory outcome, but the clearer the request in the first place, the smoother the process is likely to be, and the greater the chance of IBM meeting the customer's needs. If a customer has an urgent need for a response to an RFE, or wishes to raise any concerns over the way their requests are being handled, they should raise the issue with their primary usual contact into IBM in the first instance, typically the IBM account team, or perhaps the relevant Lab Advocate, if there is one. The account team and/or advocate can then work on the customer's behalf to help the product team better understand the customer situation and investigate options for resolution. In general, keeping the account team and/or advocate involved and informed of RFEs being raised will help anyway, for example to help the product team understand the customer context, and the customer to understand the IBM product context.

RFEs raised as a request for specific feature solutions without the business background or problem statements can lead to a number of possible concerns:

IBM could fail to understand the need and importance associated with the request, and reject it due to that lack of understanding,

IBM could misunderstand the request and the underlying need, and will deliver something that does not meet the customer's needs,

IBM could deliver exactly what the customer requested, but in a way that doesn't integrate well with other directions that customer is taking, or

IBM could deliver multiple features for different customers according to their individually specified requests, where a single improved feature would have better met all of their needs, reducing product complexity and enabling more IBM development effort to be spent to meet other requests.

Where possible, an RFE should indicate:
Description:

What the customer is trying to achieve,

What problems they are facing as a result of product limitations,

What capabilities they are looking for in a product to help them achieve their goal,

Use Case:

How the customer would expect their own (and potentially other) teams to use the requested capabilities,

Business Justification:

Whether the delivery of these capabilities will enable a new project to proceed, and hence what IBM sales are likely to be impacted as a result of the decision on this RFE,

What time frame is associated with any project this request is associated with, and hence when the new capabilities are likely to be needed,

What flexibility the customer is able to have over different options for meeting their needs within or around the products involved,

Whether the customer is able and willing to engage in public or private conversations with IBM about this RFE and possible solutions IBM proposes for it.

If you'd like to submit a requirement for the following product, work with your marketing team to complete the attached ERCF form and email to: MQ Requirements/UK/IBM (mqreq@uk.ibm.com).